Gear warnings

OK, story time.........I was flying a test-hop of an ASW-20 after
performing a major repair (broken boom). I did some stalls & falls,
hard turnes and then ran it up to redline in 10 knot
increments...........everything checked out fine. Most of my 5000 foot
tow was used up, so I entered down-wind for 30, dropped the gear and
popped the spoilers. Just then a voice said; "Put the gear down, now
Rudy". Puzzled, I double-checked the gear and sure enough it was down!
Then it came at me again with this; "Put the gear down, now Rudy",
Business. Half smiling, I said, the gear IS DOWN, my name's not Rudy
and who the hell are you?
JJ
PS, You guessed it, the owners name was Rudy and his gear warning
system was malfunctioning.

On Nov 21, 6:19 am, nimbusgb wrote:
I always fit a gear warning alarm to my ships but my 'over the fence
check' is gear check down and locked. My one wheels up, luckily on a
deeply grassed runway was after a long hard dehydrating cross country
terminated by a just sub Vne flyby and pullup. Top of the pullup, gear
down, roll onto downwind, arc around to finals, line up on centreline,
pop brakes, all looking good. fence below, check gear down and locked.
Damn! not sure, ISNT THAT UP? Why no alarm? cycle lever. Blast of
siren followed by soft bump and smell of overheated gelcoat.

A company called elk does a combined voice and siren device in the US.http://www.smarthomeusa.com/Shop/Sec...K-Voice-Siren/
That and a couple of timer chips and you could have a siren then a
subltle voice reminder and then different siren then siren and some
less than complimentary warning

Ian

I have very limited experience sailplanes with retractable gear, so i
havent spent much time pondering the issue of gear ups in gliders. I
do have a fair amount of time in retractable gear airplanes. How
difficult and what would be the disadvantage/advantages of having the
gear mechanically interconnected to the airbrakes. Like if the gear
was up and the airbrakes were opened, the gear would be extended. It
seems that no one forgets to use the airbrakes in the pattern to land.

On Nov 21, 11:21 am, wrote:
I have very limited experience sailplanes with retractable gear, so i
havent spent much time pondering the issue of gear ups in gliders. I
do have a fair amount of time in retractable gear airplanes. How
difficult and what would be the disadvantage/advantages of having the
gear mechanically interconnected to the airbrakes. Like if the gear
was up and the airbrakes were opened, the gear would be extended. It
seems that no one forgets to use the airbrakes in the pattern to land.

The gear lever in my ship has a reasonably long "throw". Not to
mention that it takes a fair amount of force to pull it through that
entire range and to get it into the "locked" position. When I use my
spoilers, so far I've typically only had to "crack them open" about a
third to half to get into my descent glide slope in the pattern. An
occasional adjustment either closing or opening, but I don't think
I've really every had to pull full spoilers yet (other than playing
around with them at altitude). Granted, I don't have a lot of flights
on this ship yet, but enough to know that interconnecting the gear to
the spoilers is something I don't think is feasible. They just are not
used in the same way as far as "handle throw" goes.

By the way, your buddy Peter Von Tresckow flies with us here in
Wisconsin.

One gear up landing on concrete is the best lesson,
and the only one you will ever need. You make a nice
long 'chalk' stripe and it costs you $50.00 per foot
for the distance you slide.

At 18:06 21 November 2007, Doug Hoffman wrote:
That was a good story, JJ.

I have a similar story. But with the added drama of
first
flight in glider type (my new to me RS-15), first flight
with
flaps-only glide path control, first flight with retractable

gear, and only 20 hours TT flying anything.

So upon entering the pattern I dropped the gear and
when on
final I deployed enough landing flap to activate the
gear up
buzzer. Wait. I had already dropped the gear. At
least I
thought I had. Everything was new to me so I considered
the very
real possibility that I had made a mistake. I double
checked the
position of the gear lever. It seemed ok, but there
was still
that darn buzzer. While pondering, this is all happening
in a
few short seconds, I realize that terra firma is fast
approaching
and this ship was going to land gear down, up, or in
between.
The runway was grass thankfully. So I shifted my attention
back
to the task at hand, making my first landing in a flaps
only
ship.

Imagine my relief when after touchdown I realized I
was rolling
on the main wheel! One of the microswitches was recalcitrant
due
to the glider not being used for 2 years. That problem
never
occurred again, thankfully.

But I still liked having that warning system even though
I never
once 'needed' it.
--
Regards,
Doug


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

That was a good story, JJ.

I have a similar story. But with the added drama of first
flight in glider type (my new to me RS-15), first flight with
flaps-only glide path control, first flight with retractable
gear, and only 20 hours TT flying anything.

So upon entering the pattern I dropped the gear and when on
final I deployed enough landing flap to activate the gear up
buzzer. Wait. I had already dropped the gear. At least I
thought I had. Everything was new to me so I considered the very
real possibility that I had made a mistake. I double checked the
position of the gear lever. It seemed ok, but there was still
that darn buzzer. While pondering, this is all happening in a
few short seconds, I realize that terra firma is fast approaching
and this ship was going to land gear down, up, or in between.
The runway was grass thankfully. So I shifted my attention back
to the task at hand, making my first landing in a flaps only
ship.

Imagine my relief when after touchdown I realized I was rolling
on the main wheel! One of the microswitches was recalcitrant due
to the glider not being used for 2 years. That problem never
occurred again, thankfully.

But I still liked having that warning system even though I never
once "needed" it.
--
Regards,
Doug


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Nov 19, 7:40 pm, fred wrote:
...I would like to have a stick vibrator, ( maybe that is off
the shelf)...

Ask the kids where mommy keeps her pink flashlight. They probably
don't know what it's for, but they might know where she hides it.

So far I've built three gear warning systems from Electron Hut parts.
Typically, it's a 6-volt pezio buzzer, two microswitches, and a 9-volt
battery and holder. But that's pretty much what everybody does. A
couple random points:

* These days I'd look into replacing the buzzer with a box that plays
a recorded verbal warning, maybe from a pre-recorded .wav file. Or
maybe I'd just get a Yak Bak 2 toy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Yak_Bak) and wire Play into the pair of microswitches.

* I always use an independent battery for the gear warning. I don't
want its function dependent on the main battery.

* I mount the system parts so that I can deactivate the gear warning
if it accidently gets stuck on. I can either pull the battery or
disconnect its wire or break one of the switches.

* I either mount the system parts so that I can test its function
during pre-takeoff, or I add a test switch to do so.

* I never run the buzzer longer than necessary to test its function. I
don't want to become inured to it.

Thanks, Bob K.